Railway type sewing machine



R s. GAMBLE ET AL. 2,836,133

RAILWAY TYPE SEWING MACHINE May 27, 1958 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 20,1954 IN VEN TOR.

RALPH S. GAMBLE LELAND F. REMINGTON.

May 1958 R. s. GAMBLE ETAL 2,836,133

RAILWAY TYPE SEWING MACHINE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 20, 1954 lll ilmlw INVENTOR. RALPH s. GAMBLE LEL-AND F. REMINGTON.

y. 1958 R. s. GAMBLE ETAL 2,836,133

RAILWAY TYPE SEWING MACHINE Filed Dec. 20, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet :5

0" IN VEN TOR. RALPH S. GAMBLE LELAND F. REMlNGTON y 1958 R. s. GAMBLEETAL 2,836,133

RAILWAY TYPE SEWING MACHINE Filed Dec. 20, 1954 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 .fi D 2m 8 8 a I o 1 Q l V a d A It INVENTOR. 2

RALPH s. GAMBLE LELAND F. REMINGTON.

ZKML 7 States 2,sss,1ss RAILWAY TYPE sewiNo MACHINE Ralph S. Gamble,Oxford, and Leland F. Remington,

Worcester, Mass, assignors to Curtis & Marble Machine Company,Worcester, Mass, a corporation of Massachusetts Application December 20,1954, Serial No. 476,144 2 Claims. (Cl. 1122) tant feature of ourinvention relates to the provision of means to cause a sewing carriageto travel between predetermined limits only, and also to cause thesewing head to stitch the fabric between separately predetermined limitsand during travel of the carriage in one direction only.

Another object is to provide means for automatically starting the sewingoperation at a selected point in the continued travel of the carriage.

Our invention further relates to arrangements and combinations of partswhich will be hereinafter described and more particularly pointed out inthe appended claims.

A preferred form of the invention is shown on the drawings, in whichFig. 1 is a plan view of our improved machine;

Fig. 2 is a sectional end elevation, taken along the line 2-2 in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a front view of the sewing carriage, with the supporting frameomitted and looking in the direction of the arrow 3 in Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a bottom view of the machine on a somewhat enlarged scale andlooking in the direction of the arrow 4 in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a rear view of certain parts, looking in the direction of thearrow 5 in Fig. l; and

Fig. 6 is a diagrammatic view of the electrical wiring and controls.

Referring to the drawings, our improved railway sewing machine comprisesa base or frame 10 on which a sewing carriage 12 is supported by flangedguide-rolls lei, secured to cross shafts 15 (Fig. 2).

The power for moving the carriage is supplied by a motor M mounted onthe carriage 12 and having a driving pulley 16 on its armature shaft 17.A belt 20 connects the driving pulley 16 to a pulley 22 (Fig. 4) whichis secured to the worm shaft 24 of a speed-reduction unit 25. This shaft24 has a worm-and-gear connection to a cross shaft 26, which in turn isconnected by bevel gears 27 and 28 to one of the cross shafts 1.5previously described.

The motor M is of reversible type and may be caused to rotate the shaft15 and rolls 14 to move the carriage 12 in either desired direction.

e belt 2i} (Figs. 2 and 3) also drives a pulley 3Q loosely mounted onthe drive shaft 31 of a stitching head 33, which head is of commercialtype and forms no part of our present invention.

The pulley has a friction member or plate 32 as- 2,836,133 Patented May27, 1958 i3 sociated therewith and rotated thereby. A non-magnetic disc33 is keyed to the shaft 31 and is slidable thereon. A friction ring orpad 34 is secured to the face of the disc 33 in position to engage thefriction plate 32.

A magnetic ring 35 is loosely mounted on a hub portion of the member 33and is held from rotation by a fixed pin 36. One end of the hub portionalso engages the disc 32, and the outer end of the drive shaft 31 issupported in a bearing 37.

When the magnet ring 35 is energized, the plate 32 and magnet ring aredrawn toward each other, and the magnet ring forces the friction pad 34against the plate 32, thus causing the drive shaft 31 to be rotated.This friction clutch is commercial and illustrative only.

The pieces of cloth C and C which are to be stitched together aremounted on pairs of holding pins (Figs. 1 and 2), which pins are fixedin plates %1 carried by brackets 42. These brackets are slidable on anangle iron or rail 43 supported on stands 44 secured to an end plate 45(Fig. 1) of the fixed frame or base 1'3.

The brackets 42 may be adjusted as desired along the rail 43 toaccommodate pieces of cloth of different widths, and may be secured inadjusted position by wing screws 47 (Fig. 2) engaging the angle iron 43.

The pin-holding plates 41 (Fig. l) are slotted as indicated at 49 topermit the starting run and over-run of the stitching needle N.

A limit switch 5% (Figs. 1 and 5) controls the travel of the carriage12, and a micro-switch 52 controls the magnetic clutch which starts andstops the stitching mechanism.

The micro-switch 52 is normally closed but is opened when a roll 53(Fig. 5) is engaged and lifted by a cam plate 54 which is supported on afixed rod 55. The cam plate 54 may be adjustably secured on the rod 55by screws 56. The limit switch 50 has a roller as which is engaged bystop plates or dogs 61 and 62 which are also adjustably mountedon thefixed rod 55.

The over-all operation of the machine is controlled by a hand-operateddrum switch (Fig. 1) having a handle 71. This drum switch acts as areversing switch for the motor M and the handle 71 has forward, reverseand neutral positions.

Illustrative electrical connections are shown in Fig. 6, in which apower wire 8'!) is connected through a terminal plate 81 to doublecontacts in the limit switch 50. A second power wire 82 is connectedthrough the plate 81 to the drum switch 70. The motor M has a forwardconnection to the drum switch 70. Wires 8d and 85 connect reverseterminals in the drum switch 7t; to the limit switch 50, so that thepower wires 3% and 82 will be reversely connected to the motor Maccording to the angular position of the limit switch 50 as determinedby the dogs 61 and 62.

One end of the magnetic clutch coil or ring 35 is connected to themicro-switch 52 and through normally closed contacts 86, a rectifier 87and a wire 53 to the power wire 80. The other end of the coil 35 isconnected through wires 90 and 91 to one of the motor terminals in thedrum switch '70 when the motor is running forward but is not connectedthrough the motor when the motor operates in a reverse direction.

When the stitching operation is to be started, the carriage 12 will beat the left in Fig. 1 and the micro-switch 52 which controls thestitching mechanism will be opened by the cam plate 54. The operatorthen throws the hen dle 71 to the right in Fig. 1, thus setting the drumswitch '70 to drive the motor M forward and to cause the carriage 12 totravel to the right in Fig. 1. As the stitching needle N approaches theedge of the cloth, the microswitch roll 53 drops off of the cam plate 54and the con- During the return movement, the'co'ntacts 86 in the 1micro-switch 52 will be closed but there will be no power connectionsthrough the drum switch, so that the stitching mechanism cannot operateduring the return travel of the carriage.

From'the foregoing description, it will be clear that the dogs 61 and62, determine the limits of travel of the carriage 12 in both directionsand stop the motor M whenever either dog is engaged. Furthermore, thecam plate 54 automatically determines the start of the stitchingoperation, and the described connections are such that the micro-switch521and .clutch coil 35 are'out of circuit during the return travel ofthe carriage.

Our improved machine thus requires an absolute mini mum of attention bythe operator, and the stitching operation may also be performed athigher speed, as the start and stop of the stitching istentirelycontrolled automatically.

Having thus described our invention and the advan tages thereof, We donot wish to be limited to the details herein disclosed, otherWise'thanas set forth in the claims, but what we claim is: a

1. In a railway sewing machine, a base frame, a stitching carriagemounted to be moved along said frame, a head provided with stitchingmechanism and mounted on said carriage, means to move said carriagebetween predetermined limits on said frame, separate clutch-controlleddriving mechanism for said stitching mechanism," and automatic means torender the clutch of said stitch=- ing driving mechanism operative todrive said stitching mechanism at a predetermined intermediate pointbetween the ends ofthe operative run only of said carriage and duringthdcontinued travel of the stitching carriage. I

2. In a railway sewing machine, a base frame, a stitch- 7 ing carriage,a head provided with stitching mechanism and mounted on said carriage, areversible'motor connected to move said carriageand to separately drivesaid stitching mechanism and including a clutchtbetw'een the motor andthe stitching mechanism, and automatic means to shift said clutchto'operative condition at a predetermined intermediate point between theends of the operative travel of the carriage and during the continuedtravel of the carriage to eifect stitching during a selected portion ofthe operative run only of the carriage and said automatic means beingalso efiective to shift the clutch to inoperative position before thereturn movement of the carriage begins. a 7

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 72,337,413 Remington Dec. 21, 1943 2,593,196 Rotherham Apr. 15, 1952"

